About Oak Harbor

The waterfront town of Oak Harbor is Whidbey Island’s largest community and home to over 20,000. It is neatly situated within the Olympic Rain Shadow, allowing our silver winter skies to carry less rain than the island’s south end.

This once quiet farming community was settled in the 1850s and is symbolically named for the Garry Oaks tree, a rare native tree which still graces our older neighborhoods.

Change arrived in 1935 when the Deception Pass Bridge linked Whidbey to the rest of the world. The bridge and 4,100 acre State Park are celebrated as one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest.

Ten years later, the U.S. Navy established an air base nearby and became forever linked to the economic health of the region and evolution of the town.

Oak Harbor today is a blend of turn-of-the-century charm and the energized bustle of the Island’s commercial heart … with a burgeoning arts community, a world-class yachting regatta, breathtaking sunsets and snow-capped